Last week I talked about how the reality of popularity is an unknown, unless we have unbiased data sources and transparency about collection and coalition. In light of the unknown, we do have some data we can review.
The Nielsens
Since 1950, the Nielsens have collected data on the most popular TV shows and have made it relatively easy to get an idea of the top primetime shows per year.
I took the top scripted shows in 2015-16 season and made a list of which had queers and if those characters were dead. Since some shows have queers of the week (NCIS for example), I chose to mark the difference between no queers in the season with ‘None’ and no queers ever as ‘Never’. I compared that to the last solid list available, which happens to be 2018-19 (the 2019-20 season is technically over, but the data is not yet collated).
2015-16
| Program | Queers? | Dead? |
|---|---|---|
| NCIS | None | N/A |
| The Big Bang Theory | None | Never |
| Empire | Regular | Yes |
| NCIS: New Orleans | Regular | Never |
| Blue Bloods | None | N/A |
| Grey’s Anatomy | Regular, Recurring, Guest | No |
| Criminal Minds | Recurring | Never |
| Scandal | Guest | Yes |
| The Blacklist | Recurring | No |
| How to Get Away with Murder | Regular | No |
| Blindspot | Regular & Guest | Yes |
| Chicago Fire | None | No |
| Code Black | Regular, Recurring | Yes |
| Chicago Med | Guest | Yes |
2018-19
| Program | Queers? | Dead? |
|---|---|---|
| The Big Bang Theory | None | Never |
| NCIS | None | N/A |
| Young Sheldon | Never | Never |
| This is Us | Regular | Never |
| Blue Bloods | None | N/A |
| FBI | Guest | Never |
| The Good Doctor | Guest | Yes |
| Manifest | Regular | No |
| Chicago Fire | Regular | No |
| Chicago Med | None | No |
| Bull | Never | Never |
| Chicago P.D. | None | Never |
| New Amsterdam | Never | Never |
| NCIS: New Orleans | Regular | Never |
| Grey’s Anatomy | Regular, Guest | Yes |
| Mom | Regular | Never |
| Hawaii Five-0 | Never | Never |
| NCIS: Los Angeles | Never | Never |
| 9-1-1 | Regular, Recurring | None |
| The Conners | Guest | None |
| God Friended Me | Recurring | Never |
Key:
- None = No queers appeared (or died) this season
- Never = No queers appeared (or died) ever to date
Also of note: The reason there are more shows listed in 2018-19 is because scripted TV outperformed reality TV (and sports) significantly more in that season than compared to 2015-16.
Growth or Decline?
I went ahead and took the data from between those years as well to more clearly show the differences. Or rather… the lack there of.
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shows with Regulars | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Shows with Recurring | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Shows with Guests | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Shows with Death | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Other than 2015-16 having a bit more death, the numbers for linear TV are surprisingly flat. There’s really very little variation for the last four years.
What about Streamers?
This is where it’s ugly. Netflix did release some data, and technically the Nielsens have been tracking them since 2017, the two sources disagree greatly on the conclusions. Also if you look at the various reports (Forbes, Time, etc) on what’s popular, it changes.
So here’s, according to Netflix, the popular scripted shows and how they’re doing from this most reason year compared with 2017 (the first year we had data):
2017
| Show | Queers | Dead? |
|---|---|---|
| American Vandal | None | None |
| Suburra: Blood on Rome | None | None |
| Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life | Mentioned | None |
| 3% | Regular | None |
| 13 Reasons Why | Regular | Yes |
| Marvel’s Iron Fist | Guest | None |
| Anne with an E | Guest | None |
| Ingobernable | Regular, Recurring, Guest | Yes |
| Travelers | None | None |
| The Keepers | None | None |
| The Crown | None | None |
| Neo Yokio | None | None |
| A Series of Unfortunate Events | None | None |
| GLOW | None | None |
| Friends from College | None | None |
| Ozark | None | None |
| Big Mouth | Regular, Recurring | None |
| Dear White People | Regular, Recurring | None |
| Disjointed | None | None |
| Orange is the New Black | Regular, Recurring | None |
| Stranger Things | None | None |
| Narcos | None | None |
| Ozark | None | None |
| Marvel’s The Defenders | Guest | None |
| MINDHUNTER | Regular | None |
| Black Mirror | None | None |
| Grace & Frankie | Guest | None |
| Fuller House | Regular | None |
| Atypical | Regular | None |
2020
| Show | Queers? | Dead? |
|---|---|---|
| Orange is the New Black | Regular | Yes |
| The Witcher | None | N/A |
| Stranger Things | Recurring | No |
| The Umbrella Academy | Regular | No |
| Money Heist | Regular | No |
| You | Recurring | Yes |
| Sex Education | Recurring | No |
| Dead To Me | Regular | No |
| Elite | Regular | No |
This is a notable departure from Linear content already. Only one show (The Witcher) this year has no queers, and that’s based on a book series that was turned into a video game, and you can look up criticism on the portrayal of BIPOC, disabled characters, and women in general from the source material. In opposition to Netflix’s other high-fantasy series that came out this year (Cursed based on the Arthurian legends), The Witcher lacks the nuance of representation. And both fall flat with ‘historically accurate costumes.’
But the point is that with regards to scripted TV, Netflix absolutely has success with queer content. In fact, six of the shows in the 2017 list went on to add queer female, trans, or non-binary characters. That means out of 28 shows over half (20) eventually added queer characters.
Queers Make Good TV
Okay, okay, I’d love to say this is obviously proof that queers make good TV. But I think, from Netflix at least, we can see that part of their driving success can be found in embracing queerness. Of course, they have some room to do better, as the recent collapse of peak TV is showing us. If you go back through those shows and identify the BIPOC or female led series, you will be sorely disappointed.
But.
By our reckoning, the top ten shows on Netflix that were on air in 2020 are significantly different.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- The Politician
- Atypical
- Valeria
- Dear White People
- Trinkets
- Feel Good
- Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings
- Teenage Bounty Hunters
- Family Business
Our list? A lot more diverse than theirs, and includes more non-English series. It’s also a lot more niche, which has been the bane of queer content for a long time. That said, we’re also limited by the offerings that have queer content, and that speaks more towards what we’re given. Is queer content found in more niche shows simply because more niche shows have queer content? It’s a little chicken-egg.
The ultimate conclusion though is that quality queer content will not hurt your show. Popularity will come regardless, so take a chance.
